Catalysis 2025 Interview

❗DROP £1 OR LESS TO SUPPORT HERE ❗

Forked Tongues: Catalysis 2025 Interview

Dundee’s Catalysis seem to be on somewhat of an upward trajectory, unhindered by hurdles which would quite likely have ended other bands.

Imagine losing 60% of your lineup, and charging on, strong as ever, barely losing a beat! New songs. Foreign shows. They ain’t stopping. As they come up on their guest headlining spot at this year’s Scottish Metal 2 The Masses Grand Final, we asked guitarist, Drew Cochrane, to pause, briefly, for a few words. For starters, how the hell did they manage to recover so quickly from such a decimation of their ranks?

Drew Cochrane (guitar): “Well, as our new EP title says, ‘The Only Way Out Is Through’. At first, it seemed a daunting and almost impossible task, but once we got stuck into the task and put some thought into it, things came together incredibly quickly. Don’t get me wrong, I think a lot of it was a perfect storm timing wise too, but we also put an insane amount of work in to make sure that shows didn’t get cancelled – bringing in friends to fill in on guitar, playing shows with our new vocalist but Pabs and Sean on guitar and bass for one last show etc -of all our bookings, there was only one we couldn’t make work!“

“On the outside, it perhaps appeared like the previous members left all at once, but that wasn’t the case and it happened over a period of a few months – the first being our former bass player Pabs. When Pabs left, we approached Robi about playing bass – it just made sense, he’d filled in for us a few times before and knew the songs. When we originally booked Beermageddon Festival 2024, our vocalist Col couldn’t make it but we knew it was too good an opportunity to turn down, so we’d already enlisted Downie to fill in for that show and he’d already started learning the songs, meaning that he was really able to hit the ground running.“

Rather than a frantic scramble, then, as such a rapid transition may have seemed to observers, it appears that the new additions were seamlessly blended in over time. But where did they come from? What is the backstory of the new Catalysis?

Drew: “Of course. Everyone we brought in was a seasoned figure on the Scottish metal scene, which I think really helped us hit the ground running so quickly and also keep up the intense live performances that we’ve become known for.”

“I spent 7 or so years alongside our current vocalist Andrew in our former band, Excellent Cadaver, and he’s always been a close friend and strong supporter of Catalysis – having done a tonne of graphic and video work for us over the years, and always being in the crowd whenever we played Edinburgh etc. After our old band split, he left music behind – but learning the Catalysis songs to fill in for Beermageddon re-ignited that spark and got him fired up again, when it came to replacing Col, I felt like he’d be a great fit vocally – they both have a similar shouty vocal style with a love of complex patterns and wordplay etc and I knew I already had musical chemistry with him. He was also a great fit for the band personality wise as he’s been one of my best friends for nearly 20 years and already worked with us closely.“

“We brought in Robi, formerly of Volcano X, on bass. Again, he was someone we’d known for a long time from the scene – having played many shows with both Volcano X and his former band Core. He’d also filled in for us for a few shows before and therefore knew a bunch of the material. Volcano X had also recently announced their split, so it was perfect timing. Our new guitarist Jamie was really the only member we didn’t know quite so well – Catalysis had played some shows with his old band Nocturne Wulf, and his current band Crusaders, and he always came across as a nice guy. He actually messaged me to ask if I was doing ok after the other members leaving, which cemented my opinion of him as a nice guy! Off the back of that message, he asked if he could help with anything – I said he could join and play guitar and that’s essentially what happened! He “auditioned” on 1st of August and played Beermageddon less than 4 weeks later, having learned 45 minutes worth of material and also written several tracks, one of which went on to become Lazarus!”

So, now that we know the “who,” it’s time to dig into the “what”…

Forked Tongues: Catalysis 2025 Interview

The band, with their refreshed contingent, have just released their new EP The Only Way Out Is Through (available here). It has already spawned videos for two of its songs – the title track and Lazarus – but can we expect more?

Drew: “We’re not sure at the moment, we might end up doing a video for one of the other songs down the line – but at the moment our plans are to focus on the live shows, and on continuing to write, we’ve already got some other new stuff written, a lot of it by Jamie. Nothing that’s fully complete yet, but structures, riffs and drum parts etc are all there for a few songs. You know how frequently we like to release, so it likely won’t be TOO long before you hear it, but our prime focus at the moment is pushing this EP. After the release of Betrayer, as a band we really wanted to lean on that record and push it hard with supporting live dates etc, but then the lineup change happened. We could have continued on the Betrayer cycle, but it felt more appropriate to show what the new lineup could do, to reassure people that although things would be slightly different going forward, the Catalysis they know and love is here to stay.“

Surely there are some changes, though. It’s hard to imagine that so many alterations to the collection of musicians on board haven’t altered the course of the creative process on the new works.

Drew: “It’s been a much more collaborative approach than before.”

“At the start of the band, Sean and I tended to write complete songs and bring them to the band as they were and that was it. Over time, that evolved to be more and more collaborative, which I think really helped to improve the strength of the writing over time, but the vocals were always pretty much written by Col with no input from anyone else on previous releases – that includes patterns, lyrics etc. He was always pretty resistant to anyone else contributing, sometimes to the determinant of the song and it certainly added a lot of frustration to the writing and recording process – that’s not to say that we didn’t create some wonderful music and memories while doing it, though!“

“It couldn’t have been any more different this time round, I think it was really important to have input from the “new guys” on the record. Jamie wrote 95% of Lazarus, and also had a lot of say in rhythm parts under solos and melodic choruses etc in all of the other tracks too. Both myself and Jamie helped work on vocal ideas with Downie, alongside our producer Mark Tindal too – lyrics, patterns and phrasings were all messed about with in the studio to make the songs the best they could be, and it was a super fun and rewarding process to go through.“

“Sonically, I don’t think a lot has changed for us.”

Forked Tongues: Catalysis 2025 Interview

“Although the vocals sound slightly different, I think the feel and style of the vocals is broadly similar – though the clean parts now are much hookier, in my opinion. Our sound has always been a melting pot of thrash, metalcore, groove metal and more – all of that is definitely still present in the new material!”

A new spark in the same fire. And a fire that’s showing no sign of flickering out any time soon…

Drew: “Next week, we’re off to Belgium to headline the Anvinium Metal Fest, which is super exciting – our first time on the mainland since 2019! The following week, we’re back in Scotland performing at the first ever Fife Metal Fest, alongside our good friends in Dog Tired. We’ve got a cool Glasgow all dayer in June, Aberdeen Metal Fest in July, 4 killer unannounced shows in August, and we’re also at Thrashchester in November. It’s been pretty much non-stop for us since the lineup change, and we don’t see that changing!“

Catch Catalysis when they join us as guest headliners at the Metal 2 The Masses: Scotland Grand Final on April 26th, at The Hive in Edinburgh, featuring Hammer, A Dose Of Death, Catalyst Symphony, Dreich, Nothing Speaks, Those Made Broken, and Trowsholm.

Forked Tongues: Catalysis 2025 Interview